Late 1960s Goodyear Promotional Piece

The cover and back cover of a well-illustrated and well-written giveaway piece by Goodyear.

M Y   C O L L E C T I O N — This is a small promotional piece published by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, most likely in the late 1960s. The backpage has a letter written by O. E. Miles, Executive Vice President, and by a quick Google search, I've found a few letters with his letterhead, and it seems he held that position in 1968 at least. This piece is 9 x 5 1/2 inches, horizontally laid out, stapled in the center and is 24 pages, including front and back covers. It is full 4-color throughout, and each page has handsome illustrations, so evocative of the best "commercial" artists of the day. There is no credit listed for the artist, and no publication date, copyright or litho mark.

I'm guessing my father picked this up at the Goodyear store while having new tires put on one of our cars. My dad was always incredibly supportive of my love of cars and art, and looking through this piece, aimed at the "new teen drivers" of the day, I'm sure he thought I'd like the synthesis of my two loves. I wouldn't drive until 1973, so he didn't pick this up for my driving education, lol. He was always bringing home printed pieces he found for free in everyday life—calendars, ads, books, magazines, etc, for me to look through and perhaps find some inspiration. For birthdays and Christmas, I'd receive nice books on various subjects, but on a daily basis, he always kept his eye out for something free that I'd like. I absolutely adored that about him. Perhaps some of it came from his upbringing in the Depression, and having grown up in 15-16 dysfunctional foster homes before fleeing to the Navy at age 16. He saw the worth in  things other people threw out, but I think a lot of it was just the delight in being able to continually see my eyes light up when he presented me with a new "treasure." He'd hold whatever it was behind his back and have me try to guess what he found that day, lol. I'm more than a little bit my father's son.

A typical interior spread giving tips on how to drive in winter, at night, in rain. Maintenance tips and of course, the value of good tires, is cleverly written into this delightful piece.

A humorous spread describing the stereotypical drivers of the day!

Ideals in the 1930s: School Project Scrapbook?

1933 Packard ad. Stately bodystyles illustrated, but Packard also had some beautifully sporty bodies this year. I think the artist may have gotten the wheelbase wrong on the Victoria coupe at the bottom...

1933 Cadillac ad. Elegance and sportiness for four hardy individuals.

No copy for this illustration. Not sure what it went with.

Tea Time: Good to the Last Drop. Ad? Art? 

M Y   C O L L E C T I O N — These page scans are from a scrapbook my mother put together in '32-'33. She would have been 15-16 years old, so I'm guessing it was some sort of high school project—Home-Ec? These pages have fallen out, making them easier to scan. The whole book consists of magazine clippings showing different ideals of life in the thirties.

Thunderbird: Unique in All the World

My 1967 Thunderbird GT estate wagon, complete with reversible Pucci seat cushions. The real 4 door Tbird, with Lincoln-inspired suicide doors and a tight 4 place bucket seat interior, is one of my favorite Tbirds of all time. Adding a hatch and upping the lux was a natural. Click on all images to enlarge.

My version of an '80 Thunderbird. Instead of using the actual Fairmont-based Tbird fielded that year, I cut down the previous '77-'79 Tbird, resulting in a more attractive, and appropriate, Thunderbird. I rendered it to resemble a wrinkled piece of sketch paper.

The 4th generation Thunderbird, 1964-66, also known as the Squarebird, lend's its lines quite well to a Squire type wagon. I used the suicide-type doors, as Tbird would in '67 for its new 4 door. The unitized body could well have supported an upward opening rear hatch. It would have opened 24 inches into the roof, similar to the late Dodge Magnum's hatch, and would have included the glass of course, leaving the trademark bumper-encircled taillights intact. The wood option was a no-brainer-Country Squires were all the rage in the '60s.

This '64 Sedan is a perfect example of using Photoshop to modify cars. This original Googled image was the standard painted-roof coupe. I've photoshopped it into the suicide door sedan seen here as well as the Squire wagon above. Notice in the wagon photo I've 'deleted' the large rock and sign in front of the driver's door. I've learned to retouch photos in almost any way you can think of, while having fun at the Mac and creating digital works of art of my favorite subject: cars. Work, Education and Fun all at the same time. Not a bad way to spend hours and hours and hours...

C H O P — Thunderbirds have long played a role in my life. The first car I ever fell in love with (age 5) was my aunt Hoohoo's Silver Mink '58 Coupe. Then it was her '64 Diamond Blue coupe she gave me at the age of 16 (along with the '69 Comet I mentioned below that my dad gave me that year. 2 cars for one birthday-I haven't quite hit the jackpot like that since, lol!)

I've chopped more than 25 Thunderbirds in Photoshop throughout the past 5 years. I've created modern ones, and I've 'adjusted' older ones. I use these renderings as practice in Photoshop, hence the various treatments seen here—trying to make them look old/wrinkled at the same time I'm changing their lines in some way. Many, and I mean many, things I've learned by creating these 'fake' cars I've ended up using in the books I design, and in restoring antique photographs.

This fake ad is based on one of the '66 Thunderbird's real ads which appeared in the National Geographic. I changed the roofline's C pillar, added two fixed "skylights," and cleaned up details all around. I also rewrote the taglines and text to reflect this new model's features. I used various filters to make the ad appear aged and stained, as so many vintage paper pieces become. I think the ad captures the feeling of Ford's sixties advertising quite well.